The Two Restaurants and The Gardeners

The Two Restaurants

There were two restaurants side by side built in a small town just outside the city. One had a big fancy sign, extravagant interior design and the nicest looking people working in it. The prices were a bit high, the staff were rude and demanding tips, and the food was left out until it became too cold to eat – yet this was what they served there.

Most new customers never returned to eat there again.

The other restaurant was smaller by comparison with only a few places to sit, a small sign without fancy lettering, and had a simple looking entrance with only a few decorative trees and flowerpots by the windows. The menu was just three types of meals and the prices were not too high and not too low, just right for the passing shoppers. The food, however, was excellent – it was fresh, filling, and everyone from the manager to the greeter at the door were courteous and helpful.

Customers spoke very well of this small restaurant and told their friends to stop by for lunch next time they went by that area.

The Gardeners

There were two gentleman living next door to one another and each had a garden they tended. Each had a row of 12 plants, their favorite plants. They both wanted them to grow, but one was less experienced and he wanted his plants to grow faster so he could be on his way to do other things.

The inexperienced gardener watered his plants daily. He touched the leaves, he prodded the soil, and he added fertilizer, or removed it from the soil when he added too much. And he did this daily – to all his plants.

The other gardener, however, would come in and stand for ten minutes, just staring at his plants. Then he would look for where bugs had landed and would pick them off or use medicine for his plants. When he’d see a plant’s soil dry, he would water it. While he spent just 10 minutes every two days, the inexperienced gardener on the other hand spent 2-5 hours each day doing something with his plants. He wanted his plants to grow so much, he was turning his hair gray.

After a little while, the inexperienced gardener saw that his plants weren’t looking so good. So he watered them more in his nervousness and hurry. The following day all 12 plants had wilted from overwatering, too much fertilizer, and all that prodding he did. He was so disappointed, he wiped the sweat off his forehead, sighed and looked at his neighbor whose plants had just started to bear fruit and vegetables.

“How do you do it?” He said.

“I do it like anyone else, except only when they ask me to water them – then I water them.”